Raising the Bar
by Nightfirecat
Summary: Hinata faces a difficult personal obstacle: surmounting her anxiety associated with talking to Naruto, and her insecurity about crushing on him. Fortunately, she enlists a little help in this challenge.


"Why can't I just get the words out?"

She let gravity take over, and pull her down against the wood fence to the ground as she pulled in her arms and legs, and a full-bodied blush rolled across her face.

"It's just a few words, why can't I say it? I could ask him 'Hey, do you want to go get ramen sometime?' or just 'Would you like to hang out with me-'.." Hinata trailed off, and put her palms flat to the ground as she tried to relax: "Calm down... Find your center..and..breathe..."

Her breath caught in her throat again, as her thoughts once again shot back to thinking about him, and how he jumped up behind her. "No, _no!_ I need to _calm down_." As she slowly coaxed her heart to stop dancing a jig and calmed down, she suddenly remembered a similar situation she was in one night while on a mission...

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><p>Panting, she pressed her back into the trunk of the pine tree, as if to blend into it; as if to fade away.<p>

"Hinata?" she heard Kiba call out; she knew that he could find her, hidden as she was, with that exceptional nose of his, "Hinata, look, I'm sorry – I didn't mean it like _that_!"

She didn't move – her legs wouldn't listen to her will, and thus kept her rooted in place. Before long, as she thought, Kiba calmly came walking over, and sat down next to her, leaning back against the tree.

"Look, I'm sorry for teasing you – you know, it's alright to like him," he said, staring off at one of the thousands of trees in the forest, "There's nothing wrong with it, and it's not like nobody knows about it – I mean, almost everybody **but** him knows..."

"But..."

"But _what_, Hinata?" Kiba interrupted, "You've liked him since as long as I've known you, from back when we met in Ninja Academy, and you've never let him know!" He sighed, then added, with a grin, "I mean, you really oughtta' ask him out or something, before somebody else gets to him."

Hinata's face reddened slightly as she said, "Well...I've tried, but whenever I do, I... it just..."

"Well, you know, if you need some help or something, you know I could always help you out, or..." he trailed off as he brushed the back of his head, and found something to catch his eyes past one of his shoulders.

"Really? Would you do that to help me?"

"Yeah, I mean, if it'll help you...I guess I cou-" he managed to get out before being cut off.

She began slowly, choosing her words carefully, "Thanks for the offer, but I really don't think I'm going to be ready to..." She trailed off, as her blush started to resurface.

"Hey, hey – no, whenever you're ready. Just let me know when you need the help, eh?" He flashed a wolfish grin, and crossed his hands behind his head.

"Yeah. Thank you," she said, only barely more than a whisper.

"Yep, don't mention it!" he responded proudly, "Anyway, I'm going to get back to camp before Shino starts getting too curious, I guess," he said with a wink before starting back towards the campsite.

Hinata let out a relieved sigh and, after a few moments, picked herself up and followed after him.

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><p>Though that was nearly a month ago, Hinata still remembered it like it was yesterday, and she surely was going to take Kiba up on his offer. <em>I'll do it.<em> She thought, _I won't hesitate!_  
>With that thought, she jumped to her feet and dashed off towards greater Konoha, to enlist some help.<p>

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><p>Hinata stood behind the fence, heart fluttering, and glanced to her side to see Kiba, inconspicuously sitting a distance away, motioning to go ahead. She quickly calmed herself, as she drew in a slow breath, and simultaneously drew in her thoughts. "It's alright – I can do this. <em>I can do this!<em>"

She turned on her heels, and strode with newfound confidence around the corner, only to come to an abrupt halt as she ran face-first into Naruto.

"Hey! Watch where you're g- Oh! Hinata, are you alright?" he said, once he realized just who it was who bumped into him.

"Ye..ah...I'm..." she stuttered haltingly.

"Are you ok? Your face is really red… Are you sick or something?"

Hinata flushed further. "No .. I was..I'm just -" she said, stumbling over her own words.

"She was just looking for you to ask you if you wanted to go out with her, like maybe getting lunch today." Kiba interjected, quickly and clearly, showing up at just the right time, before walking off.

"Really?" asked a surprised Naruto.

Hinata nodded, "Yeah," she said, as she put her hands together in front of her legs.

Naruto grinned, as he said "Well, I just came from having lunch today, and Granny Tsunade will kill me if I don't help her with work around the village today, but how's tomorrow sound?"

Hinata smiled as she muttered "Yea..that..I'd..." before quickly snapping back to reality, before dissolving into speechlessness, "Yeah, that sounds good," she responded, all but beaming.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then, Hinata!" Naruto said, before striding, exuberant as ever, towards the Hokage's mansion, leaving only a blissfully happy Hinata in his wake.

"See you tomorrow," she sighed, contentedly, long after he was out of earshot, her emotions – joy, relaxation, satisfaction – written plain as day on her face, knowing that tomorrow would, without a doubt, set a new high for the best day of her life thus far. 

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><p><strong>AN: First fiction down, I hope I didn't butcher it too badly! ._.**

**P.S. Why does the formatting hate me? Removing multiple hyphens, deleting asterisks, getting rid of extra blank lines. :(  
><strong>


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